Barry Bonds Rattles the Opposition

I have been keeping track every once in a while on Barry Bonds' challenge to Hank Aaron's 755 home run record. Last week, Barry scored homer number 754, and then I became more interested in it since I wanted to see what the fan reaction would be to tying the record and beating it. Outside of his home team town of San Francisco, Bonds gets booed a lot, especially where he is now, in Los Angeles playing the Dodgers. I watch late at night to see if I could see Home Run #755 and the resulting chorus of boos, and maybe bottles and other debris on the field. The boos result from the suspected or actual use of steroids by Bonds; certainly there is something funny about a batter who gets better each year he ages, and one who blasts Roger Maris' 61 home run record with 70 runs recently. But #755 hasn't happened. Instead, the Giants are beating the Dodgers, except for last night's game. I think Bonds has got the Dodgers all unnerved.

Since #754, Bonds has hit only 1 out of 10 at bats, with an additional 9 walks, some of them intentional. Why can't he hit? Why does he get walked a lot? Because he doesn't get anything good. No pitcher wants to be the one who throws #755 or #756 to Bonds. So the pitcher does not pitch good ones to him. When Bonds hits, he hits squibblers or short fly balls, which are easy outs. When he refuses to hit bad pitches, he gets walks. However it isn't all that simple.

Two days ago, I observed one trip to the plate by Bonds. The pitcher threw 4 balls and one strike at him, and the strike was not a good ball to hit. The next batter Klesko walked as well, and Molina then hit a single, loading the bases, and then Feliz hit another single, scoring two runs. And just tonight, August 2, Bonds walked, and then the Giants went through their entire batting order, scoring 3 runs. So not only are pitchers and other Dodger players trying to avoid getting Bonds into the action, Bond's mere appearance is giving the Dodger pitcher and fielders the jitters, causing other Giants to hit and score.

And so it shall go for a while. But not forever, as sooner or later, Bonds will come up to the plate with runners on 2nd and 3rd, or with the bases loaded. In the latter case, the pitcher will have to pitch to Bonds, especially if the game is close. And maybe then Bonds will score the home run, and the record will fall, and the boos will follow. That's baseball, with a little dash of steroids thrown in.